NOW playing at the Manhattan Theater Club are two shows whose fates have taken surprising turns in recent days.

First, the sad tale of the “The Wild Party,” a new musical by Andrew Lippa based on Joseph Moncure March’s Jazz Age poem.

This much-hyped show generated such good buzz during previews that a Broadway transfer seemed all but a done deal. Such a move would have pitted the MTC’s “Wild Party” against another “Wild Party” musical, this one being produced on Broadway by the Public Theater in April.

Alas, this delicious rivalry was not meant to be.

MTC’s “Wild Party” had everything going for it but the critics, who roasted the show last Friday, nixing all talk of a Broadway transfer.

The show will now play is final performance April 2, then slink off into oblivion.

Meanwhile, a minor play at MTC that nobody paid any attention to is suddenly hot, hot, hot.

Variety called it “extraordinarily funny,” the Times likened it to some of Neil Simon’s best-known comedies, and The Post said it was “snazzily staged” and “brilliantly acted.” Now a host of heavy-hitting producers is looking for a place to move it.

Trouble is, all of the theaters on Broadway are booked.

Things aren’t any better off-Broadway, though if the Manhattan Theater Club were smart, it would pull the plug on its struggling play “Fuddy Mears” at the Minetta Lane and put “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” there.

MTC officials declined to comment yesterday on the future of the show.